3 ms·

The rules of written English no longer apply to millennials

3 points by imartin2k 9y ago

eesmith 9y ago
What we see is a generation for which the ability to write, for informal communication, is more important than ever before. Sure, a few generations ago people wrote diaries and carried on correspondence. But most people did not write dozens or hundreds of notes per day. I want to moderate the enthusiasm of that piece. Many of the forms of expression are 100 or more years old. Telegraph and ham radio used some of the same mechanics of 'stripping anything unnecessary from their writing'. Using capital letters to make things stand out (eg, to express yelling or satire) is also at least several generations old. Adding a Trademark Symbol™ is also not new nor specific to millennials. It's definitely part of an in-group identity. Then again, all language is like that, is it not? The article ended with: Perhaps we should add "IRL conversations" to The Official List of Things Millennials Destroyed. That reminds of something which came up during the Pirate Bay trial in 2010. Quoting from https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-appeal-day-4-its-fun-to-run-101004/ https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-appeal-day-4-its-fun... : > Roswall, presumably trying to speak the same ‘language’ as the somewhat techie defendants, got tied up a little; > “When did you meet [Gottfrid] for the first time IRL?” asked the Prosecutor. “We do not use the expression IRL,” said Peter, “We use AFK.” “IRL?” questioned the judge. “In Real Life,” the Prosecutor explained to the judge. > “We do not use that expression,” Peter noted. “Everything is in real life. We use AFK – Away From Keyboard.” “Well,” said Roswall. “It seems I am a little bit out of date.”
ddingus 9y ago
Personally, I find millennials playful and creative I this way. My default has always been to respond on the channel I am contacted on. And where that's a new thing, or casual, conversational, I evaluate the norms and proceed. Result? I have more fun with language more of the time. No complaints. Emoji ended up surprisingly expressive. I've had entire, meaningful exchanges with those things. Sometimes, just exchanging the feels makes sense. I wondered, for example, why we have a bomb emoji. "You are the bomb" Of course we have one! My own contribution to this mess is line breaks for emphasis. An example might be either: option one makes sense , or option two , but one must always consider the x factor , otherwise; It's a raw mess. Same for lists: 1) this item is blue 2) this item is green 3) this one needs explanation (Don't be concerned with smell, just color) 4) catch all. Single sentence ideas, expanded and structured for brevity. Language is fluid. We are entering a generational time. The last of the pre-Internet people are aging out. This kind of thing is only beginning! Celebrate it. I am. Fun times.

3 points by imartin2k 9y ago

What we see is a generation for which the ability to write, for informal communication, is more important than ever before. Sure, a few generations ago people wrote diaries and carried on correspondence. But most people did not write dozens or hundreds of notes per day. I want to moderate the enthusiasm of that piece. Many of the forms of expression are 100 or more years old. Telegraph and ham radio used some of the same mechanics of 'stripping anything unnecessary from their writing'. Using capital letters to make things stand out (eg, to express yelling or satire) is also at least several generations old. Adding a Trademark Symbol™ is also not new nor specific to millennials. It's definitely part of an in-group identity. Then again, all language is like that, is it not? The article ended with: Perhaps we should add "IRL conversations" to The Official List of Things Millennials Destroyed. That reminds of something which came up during the Pirate Bay trial in 2010. Quoting from https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-appeal-day-4-its-fun-to-run-101004/ https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-appeal-day-4-its-fun... : > Roswall, presumably trying to speak the same ‘language’ as the somewhat techie defendants, got tied up a little; > “When did you meet [Gottfrid] for the first time IRL?” asked the Prosecutor. “We do not use the expression IRL,” said Peter, “We use AFK.” “IRL?” questioned the judge. “In Real Life,” the Prosecutor explained to the judge. > “We do not use that expression,” Peter noted. “Everything is in real life. We use AFK – Away From Keyboard.” “Well,” said Roswall. “It seems I am a little bit out of date.”

ddingus 9y ago

Personally, I find millennials playful and creative I this way. My default has always been to respond on the channel I am contacted on. And where that's a new thing, or casual, conversational, I evaluate the norms and proceed. Result? I have more fun with language more of the time. No complaints. Emoji ended up surprisingly expressive. I've had entire, meaningful exchanges with those things. Sometimes, just exchanging the feels makes sense. I wondered, for example, why we have a bomb emoji. "You are the bomb" Of course we have one! My own contribution to this mess is line breaks for emphasis. An example might be either: option one makes sense , or option two , but one must always consider the x factor , otherwise; It's a raw mess. Same for lists: 1) this item is blue 2) this item is green 3) this one needs explanation (Don't be concerned with smell, just color) 4) catch all. Single sentence ideas, expanded and structured for brevity. Language is fluid. We are entering a generational time. The last of the pre-Internet people are aging out. This kind of thing is only beginning! Celebrate it. I am. Fun times.